Here is American Sportworks latest offering into the buggy world. We finally got our hands on one of these things. Our Helix met its death a few months back when it physically went up against our KFX700 and we have been looking for something new to fill the void. This machine is rather interesting. Read on to find out why!
The best way to explain this 150cc GY6 powered machine is this: If you the Carbide and the Helix got together and had a baby, the Zircon would be the result! It is smaller than either the Carbide or the Helix. It has the physical appearance (but smaller) of the carbide but not all of the features. For example, gone is the dual a-arm setup of the Helix for the favor of the conventional strut setup that you find on just about all of the mini buggies. However, while you have that setup, you don't get the front brakes...like all of the others have. Where the Helix didn't have headlights or mud flaps, you DO get that with the Zircon. You get the wheels that came on the Helix. You don't get the speedometer of the Carbide. You do get the rack and pinion steering of the Carbide though while you get the bench seat of the Helix, and it adjusts forward and backwards and has removable and adjustable height head rests.
As mentioned, it is physically smaller than either the Helix or Carbide and is pretty manuverable. I feel like the suspension is a little stiff. Seems they used the Helix rear shocks. Something I like is they give you a factory canvas roof and like a bug catcher net type thing covering the front of the frame. The gas/brake pedals came from the Helix. Like the Helix and the Carbide, it has a three selection transmission with internal reverse and a nuetral position.
The engine is identical to the Carbide and Helix but I did notice one thing right off the bat: The EPA is clearly making themselves more prominent in getting these things over here. In particular, like every other machine we get the carb needed cleaned. They clearly want to make sure that you don't start messing with jets. This is obvious by the fact that two of the four screws that hold the fuel bowl on have the heads sheared off from the factory!!!! Fortunately there was enough meat to grab them and back them out. I replaced them with the allen headed ones that I pick up at Home Depot. Inside the fuel bowl revealed more changes. Gone is the factory lean 114 main jet and in its place....an even leaner 111 main jet!! The pilot jet has gone from the odd size of a 34 to the standard size of 35. Everything else appeared to be the same up to this point. If/When I discover more changes, I will list them.
Performance wise you ask? It runs good. Best I can tell the gearing is about the same. The machine is fairly light and I feel it is possible they changed the weight of the rollers in the variator. If I get in there in the future I'll weight them. Top speed:.....40 MPH on the nose, GPS verified. For comparison, our Helix ran 43mph and are Carbide was just a bit slower than that due to its weight.
Pros: Pretty quick machine, light, runs good, good top speed and very trail capable.
Cons: EPA is making their presence known. Screw heads on fuel bowl sheared off from the factory which can make mods or cleaning difficult. I forsee many people having to flat out replace the carb. Not quite as comfortable as the Helix.
BuggyMasters Overall Rating: 7 out of 10.